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Anthony Barbose doesn’t see the colors of a bright juicy steak or a fresh salad drizzled with dressing. That just makes them smell and taste so much better.

Anthony is color-blind and only sees a range of blacks, whites and greys. But he perceives smells and tastes much more intensely than other people.

“Imagine tasting a grape, but then adding triple grape sauce on it. That would just be my normal grape,” Anthony, 15, said. “Or smelling a slice of pizza. Imagine fresh-made cheese, pepperoni and dough. That’s what I smell.”

The Wyoming Valley West High School sophomore has honed those heightened senses to his advantage in the kitchen. He began cooking when he was 9, and he’s always making food, whether it’s for his soccer team, friends or family.

“People say school comes first. I think school can come along with cooking,” said Anthony, who is an honor student. “Cooking is actually a big factor in me not being ordinary because a lot of kids don’t cook or don’t know how.”

Not even old enough to drive, Anthony cooks for his mother’s catering business. He’s also won competitions.

Last summer while catering a graduation party outside Philadelphia, a guest was impressed by Anthony’s cooking and introduced himself. The man was restaurateur Stephen Starr, who owns 32 high-end eateries in Philadelphia, New York City, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

“Maybe a month later, right after summer ended, I got a call (from Starr) saying, ‘Hey, we’re having this little thing in Philly. Want to come by and shoot some film and compete?’ I said why not,” Anthony said.

He received an invitation to a cooking competition and filming session for teens at the Art Institute of Philadelphia’s culinary school. Anthony made a balsamic-glazed steak with a poblano pepper dipping sauce and caramelized bananas with Mexican chocolate for dessert. It was a winner.

“It was kind of like a mind opener,” Anthony said. “Cooking was a really fun thing to do. I love it, but I didn’t think about going somewhere with it.”

A few months later, Anthony received an invitation to a cook-off in Las Vegas. This time, the competition was tougher — 19 teens who all attended culinary-focused high schools. Anthony accepted the challenge, along with the free week-long stay on the Vegas Strip with his mother.

Unlike in Philadelphia, Anthony said he was actually nervous. And when he got there, one competitor, whose father worked as executive chef at a restaurant owned by Emeril Lagasse, unleashed some intimidation tactics.

“He said, ‘You have some competition. I cook some pretty good food, probably better than you. By the end of this competition, I’ll make your food look like a KFC Bucket,’” Anthony said.

That kid finished third behind Anthony, who won with his grilled chicken and smoked Gouda cheese bisque, truffle and pea macaroni and cheese and a perfectly cooked 30-day dry-aged rib eye steak.

“That was probably the happiest thing ever,” Anthony said. “To prove that I could beat 19 kids that went to an art high school, you know, it just amazed me.”

Despite his culinary successes, Anthony doesn’t know if he’ll make a career out of cooking. He’s in the top 20 percent of his class and is interested in pursuing chemical engineering or political science.

For him, cooking isn’t just about winning competitions or making a living. It is, and has always been, about family. Anthony learned “everything” about cooking from his mother, Andrea. Every Sunday, the two spend the day preparing food for the rest of the week. His older brothers return home, and friends and neighbors usually come, too.

Maybe, Anthony said, he’ll cook as a side job in college, or become a chef if the other career ambitions don’t pan out. But he doesn’t see cooking simply as a contingency plan.

“I don’t want to think of this as a fall-back because I know I’ll always be doing this. So no matter what, I’ll always be cooking.”

chong@citizensvoice.com // @cvchrishong

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